3/31/12 (Saturday):  Not much going on since we got back from New Zealand.  Lots of appointments and personal business.  We enjoyed some unseasonably warm weather here--there have been folks in the pool since early March!

Tricolor Heron on Rowboat

There's a restaurant near us (The Lighthouse) where we like to have breakfast occasionally.  My friends, Lucie and Elaine, came for the day a couple of weeks ago and I took them there for lunch.  Behind the restaurant is a canal (one of many in New Smyrna Beach).  It's small, but quite pretty, and this tricolor heron thought it made a good spot for a rest and overview of the fishing possibilities.

Elaine, Lucie and Joyce

After lunch, we headed for Canaveral National Seashore, where we did the grand tour, including climbing to the top of Turtle Mound.  We also visited the little ghost town of Eldora and walked the beach.  Suggestion:  if you don't want to see more of strangers than expected, don't hike too far south at Canaveral.  The area after the furthest south parking lot is frequented by naturists (not naturalists of a bird watching type).

Papaya Growing on Turtle Mound

Another day, I joined Mag, Cathy, Darcie and Valerie for a day of browsing around The Barn in Lake Alfred.  It's a neat place that used to be a working farm.  Now there are shops, gardens and a nice outdoor cafe.  We had fun catching up with one another and enjoying the good weather.  I got some things to make a fairy garden.  I'll post pictures of it when I'm finished so you'll know what I'm talking about.

 I volunteer at Canaveral National Seashore every Friday.  Usually, I alternate between working in the Visitor Center and being a docent at the historic house in Eldora.  In the Visitor Center, I greet visitors, answer the phone, make camping reservations and check in campers and folks taking the pontoon boat cruise.  At Eldora I give tours of the historic house and discuss the history of the ghost town.  Recently, though, I got a call asking whether I could be first mate/interpreter on one of the pontoon boat cruises.  I'd been a passenger on one of these once, but was a little nervous about being an interpreter.  As it turned out, Captain Walt and I carried it off without a hitch.  These 2-hour tours are a great bargain ($20 each, or $10 for folks with the senior pass).  We saw dolphins, manatees and lots of birds.

The last time I volunteered at Eldora, another volunteer and I sat on the porch of the restored house wearing 19th century costume and knitted.  I finished the socks I started in New Zealand!

Roasting Pan Banjo

Last, but not least, in our life of small adventures:  Wiley and I went to the Volusia County Flea Market.  I bought a pressure cooker and Wiley bought some fruit.  I was intrigued by this fellow who was playing a banjo that he made himself from an old roasting pan!

Don't know when I'll blog again.  We'll have to see if any of our adventures are blog worthy.  Enjoy the Spring weather wherever you are!